Tape or disc-what’s best in video?

With video, you decide what to watch, you can use your television set to provide you with the films, shows, music-virtually any visual entertainment or information-of your choice. There are two systems: videotape recorders and videodisc players, each with their own particular advantages.

Videotape and videocassette recorders play tapes and you can record television programmes on them as well as watch films or other pre-recorded material.

Videodisc players play special discs containing films and shoes. You cannot record on the discs, but the picture quality produced by the discs is much better than that given by tapes. The reason for this is that discs are digital whereas tapes are analog.

One advantage that discs have over tapes is that any part of the disc can bee played immediately. This means that computers can be linked to videodisc players and allow people to interact with them. Computer games with real pictures are one development now taking place, and the system is likely to have tremendous potential in education.